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Elf
Elves are a long-lived race of fey-like humanoids, found across Ovaicaea but particularly concentrated in the western and southern parts of the continent. They are a diverse people, but consider themselves to be bound together as one race by their cultural, physiological, and geographic roots. The elven race originates from the Feywild forest in the Athua valley, and they claim descent from the semi-divine fairy folk. It is through this heritage that elves have a natural affinity for magic, supernatural senses, and graceful dexterity. Elves were among the first people to settle into an agricultural civilization on Ovaicaea. Elves have created powerful states and constitute a dominant minority people in various other nations. Elven influence on culture, language, jurisprudence, cuisine, agriculture, industry, arts, architecture, and warfare is extensive throughout the civilized world. History Physical characteristics Ethnicity Elves are often categorized into distinct ethnic groups with common traits, heritage, and language. These ethnic groups might themselves be divided into tribes or clans, but share a common culture. The elven ethnicities known in Ovaicaea are the S''oltra'', called also high elves, gold elves, or sun elves; the Lunara, also called moon elves or silver elves; the Tretier, called wood elves, copper elves, or wild elves; the Dunera, called desert elves or sand elves; and the Maira, called sea elves or aquatic elves. Sun elves tend to be more populous in western Ovaicaea, though pockets of sun elves settlers live in the mountainous north, and sun elven travelers thrive across the continent. Moon elves are evenly divided between populations in the river valleys south of the Skyshroud Mountains, and populations in the western coast. Wood elves are spread throughout the continent, but have formed distinct ethnic cultures where they have settled; the oldest are found in Skyshroud, in the pine barrens surrounding the sacred Feywild, but others are found in nearly any woodland. Desert elves are populous in the hilly Tethar and Aendrilad deserts, but are also present in the southern parts of the Eldun plateau. Sea elves inhabit the islands of the Western and Southern Seas, as some parts of the coasts of Gestrin Isle and Crab Bay. Some of these groups have an antagonistic history, and have fought each other over resources, power, and ideological interests. Despite this complicated interrelationship, they all have a common view of themselves as elven, and delight in their celestial and magical heritage. Soltra Also called sun elves, high elves, or golden elves, Lunara Also called moon elves or silver elves, Tretier Called wood elves, copper elves, or wild elves, Dunera Known as desert elves or sand elves, Maira Also called sea elves, island elves, or aquatic elves, the Maira are an elven ethnicity that has adapted to life in and near the ocean. Believed to descend from coastal-dwelling tribes of desert elves, the sea elves crossed the waters to colonize the islands of the Great Southern Sea over 3,000 years ago. Since then, they have expanded to islands off the coast of Eldunari and western Mocryae, and have become extensive traders, explorers, and settlers across the islands, building a widespread migratory culture in the archipelagos. Maira tend to have deep copper skin, sometimes with darker brown markings, which they often tattoo with complex geometric patterns in dark blue and black ink derived from the octopus. They have dark, thick hair and slender, muscular bodies with long limbs. They have become naturally adapted to swimming, with . They can hold their breath for extended periods of time, and survive the crushing pressures and cold of deep waters, with greater resistance to the effects of pressure sickness. Maira in the Southern Sea live in tribal groups, each led by a chief chosen from among them, which migrate from island to island on a seasonal basis. Permanent shelters remain standing, typically made from wood, thatch, and stone, for occupation by rotating sets of residents. Typically, a few tribes have treaties, memorized by oral lawkeepers, that regulate who resides on which island at what time. They sail the sea on large rafts and longships, enabling travel, trade, and fishing. Some communities have established permanent villages along the coast of Crab Bay and the southern Mocryae Peninsula; these facilitate commerce between sea elves and their neighbors, creating a lively trade in coconuts, fruits, fish, seashells, pearls, timber, coffee, and sugarcane. They also trade extensively among themselves, and with merfolk communities in coral reefs near the islands. Sea elves of the Southern Sea are mostly inhabitants of the Gastrinian Empire. Sea elven communities are given "federate" status in Gestrin, granting sea elves limited citizenship rights and allowing their communities some autonomy in exchange for certain obligations to the Gastrinian state, usually through military service or through trade goods. Many sea elf tribal chiefs are citizens of Gestrin, and some have been sent to the capital city of Zonara to sit in the Senate of the empire, representing their people before the King. Another large population of sea elves thrive along the Western Ocean, among the islands and on the coast of Eldunari and western Mocryae. These Maira have a different lifestyle, and are more settled in trading communities rather than migratory, due in part to the rougher and colder seas of the western coast. With negligible agriculture to provide trade goods, it is not uncommon for western Maira engage in raiding for riches and prestige, and some of the most famous pirates are sea elves from this region. These sea elves often trade in whale oil and meat, fish, honey, wool, ivory, timber, tin, and iron. Piratical sea elves also trade in gold, silver, gemstones, slaves, and glassware taken as loot from their raids, mostly to Gastrinian traders in South Mocryae. Western sea elves are mostly subject to the New Empire, with some communities holding imperial immediacy, some being part of the Republic of Mocryae, and some being part of the Eldunari League.